Best quotes from Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés Messi, also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record eight Ballon d’Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 he was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team. Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and the UEFA Champions League four times.

With his country, he won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (eight), and most assists in La Liga (192) and the Copa América (17). He also has the most international goals by a South American male (106). Messi has scored over 800 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club (672).

Messi relocated to Spain from Argentina aged 13 to join Barcelona, for whom he made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004. He established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, and in his first uninterrupted season in 2008-09 he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football; that year, aged 22, Messi won his first Ballon d’Or. Three successful seasons followed, with Messi winning four consecutive Ballons d’Or, making him the first player to win the award four times.

During the 2011-12 season, he set the La Liga and European records for most goals scored in a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona’s all-time top scorer. The following two seasons, Messi finished second for the Ballon d’Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo (his perceived career rival), before regaining his best form during the 2014-15 campaign, becoming the all-time top scorer in La Liga and leading Barcelona to a historic second treble, after which he was awarded a fifth Ballon d’Or in 2015.

Messi assumed captaincy of Barcelona in 2018, and won a record sixth Ballon d’Or in 2019. Out of contract, he signed for French club Paris Saint-Germain in August 2021, spending two seasons at the club and winning Ligue 1 twice. Messi joined American club Inter Miami in July 2023, winning the Leagues Cup in August of that year. An Argentine international, Messi is the country’s all-time leading goalscorer and also holds the national record for appearances.

At youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finishing the tournament with both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew comparisons with his compatriot Diego Maradona, who described Messi as his successor. After his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup (2006), and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named young player of the tournament.

As the squad’s captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, the 2015 Copa América, winning the Golden Ball, and the 2016 Copa América. After announcing his international retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a third-place finish at the 2019 Copa América, and victory in the 2021 Copa América, while winning the Golden Ball and Golden Boot for the latter. For this achievement, Messi received a record-extending seventh Ballon d’Or in 2021.

In 2022, he led Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where he won a record second Golden Ball, scored seven goals including two in the final, and broke the record for most games played at the World Cup (26). Messi has endorsed sportswear company Adidas since 2006. In 2020 and 2023, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, with Messi being the first team-sport athlete to win the award. In 2020, Messi became the second footballer and second team-sport athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings.

Some of the best quotes from Lionel Messi are listed below.

1. “Barcelona gave me everything, they took a chance on me when nobody else would. I never have any desire to play for anybody else, I will be here for as long as they want me.” – Lionel Messi
2. “Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, especially children.” – Lionel Messi
3. “Being named among the best at something is special and beautiful. But if there are no titles, nothing is won.” – Lionel Messi
4. “Day-to-day motivation isn’t a problem for me.” – Lionel Messi
5. “Every time I start a year, I start with the objective of trying to achieve everything, without comparing it to how I’ve done in other seasons.” – Lionel Messi
6. “Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible. But that trait is not something I’ve worked on, it’s part of me.” – Lionel Messi
7. “Everything that’s happened to me in my career has been special, even the tough times because they leave marks on you that shape your life.” – Lionel Messi
8. “Football has been my life since I was a kid. My style remains the same, I love every single minute I get on the pitch. I know I have a great responsibility, and that there are objectives to accomplish, but I try to have fun too, because that’s what i love to do.” – Lionel Messi
9. “I am a normal person. I have the same life as any human being. When I finish playing, doing my work, I have my family, my friends, and I live like any other person.” – Lionel Messi
10. “I am competitive and I feel bad when we lose. You can see it in me when we’ve lost. I’m in a bad way. I don’t like to talk to anyone.” – Lionel Messi
11. “I don’t know, I’ve liked football since I was a kid and I’ve always dreamt of becoming a professional footballer, I never thought of any other job.” – Lionel Messi
12. “I don’t need the best hairstyle or the best body. Just give me a ball at my feet and I’ll show you what I can do.” – Lionel Messi
13. “I go out and do the best I can in each game, and I don’t think about the fouls other players will commit or whether I might be injured. It only does you harm to worry about those things.” – Lionel Messi
14. “I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it, I will leave football.” – Lionel Messi
15. “I like to score goals but I also like to have friends among the people I have played with.” – Lionel Messi
16. “I never think about the play or visualize anything. I do what comes to me at that moment. Instinct. It has always been that way.” – Lionel Messi
17. “I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year, it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.” – Lionel Messi
18. “I still have a lot of room for improvement. For example, I want to shoot equally well with both feet.” – Lionel Messi
19. “I try to use pressure to help me in every game. Pressure helps me do things to the best of my ability. I like it. I don’t feel pressure; quite the contrary, because I always enjoy what I’m doing and that’s playing football.” – Lionel Messi
20. “I want to be world champion, but not to change the perception of others towards me or to achieve greatness like they say, but rather, to reach the goal with my national team and to add a world cup to my list of titles.” – Lionel Messi
21. “I’m always proudest whenever I’ve been part of a trophy-winning team. Lifting a title makes me feel so happy because it’s what I want to do in football: be successful.” – Lionel Messi
22. “I’m lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground.” – Lionel Messi
23. “I’m never satisfied. I always push my limits and I always try to get better every day.” – Lionel Messi
24. “I’m not the sort of guy who shouts and screams before a match.” – Lionel Messi
25. “I’ve always really just liked football, and I’ve always devoted a lot of time to it. When I was a kid, my friends would call me to go out with them, but I would stay home because I had practice the next day.” – Lionel Messi
26. “It doesn’t matter if I am better than Cristiano Ronaldo, all that matters is that Barcelona are better than Madrid.” – Lionel Messi
27. “It takes sacrifice as well as talent.” – Lionel Messi
28. “It was hard for me because it was such a big change. I left a lot behind in Argentina and unlike other children living at the Masia, I hardly ever got to visit my family. I only saw them once or twice a year and that was very hard for me.” – Lionel Messi
29. “It’s an honor to be recognized like that [the best player]. But Barca is not just Messi. Barca has very good players.” – Lionel Messi
30. “Just to hear people saying and thinking that makes me very proud indeed. But I try not to think about it too much and just focus on enjoying everything that I have in this life.” – Lionel Messi
31. “Little by little, I’m getting better all the time. I’ve not lost the passion to play.” – Lionel Messi
32. “My ambition is to always get better and better.” – Lionel Messi
33. “My family was always present when I needed them and sometimes felt even stronger emotions than me.” – Lionel Messi
34. “On a personal note, I think it won’t be until after I’ve retired that I’m fully aware of what I’ve done or what I’ve gone on to achieve in my career.” – Lionel Messi
35. “Some people say my style of play is innate, but I’m not sure if that’s me or not. Honestly, I do play on instinct. On the pitch, I’m always looking for the best move or decision at any given time. I never want to do what the opposition would be expecting.” – Lionel Messi
36. “Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits and get on with trying to win.” – Lionel Messi
37. “Sometimes you have to accept you can’t win all the time.” – Lionel Messi
38. “The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your instincts.” – Lionel Messi
39. “The truth is my idea has been to always stay at Barcelona and see out the rest of my career here. Like I always say, one doesn’t know what can happen in the future, but if it were up to me to decide, I would stay at Barcelona for the rest of my career.” – Lionel Messi
40. “There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.” – Lionel Messi
41. “There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a happy and smiling child. I always help in any way I can, even if it’s just by signing an autograph. A child’s smile is worth more than all the money in the world.” – Lionel Messi
42. “This is much more than I dreamed about as a boy. I want to thank football in general for what it has given me.” – Lionel Messi
43. “To be honest, I never realized it. I never really thought that I was going to be really good or not. I just wanted to make my dream come true.” – Lionel Messi
44. “Today I am the happiest man in the world, my son was born and thanks to God for this gift.” – Lionel Messi
45. “What I do is play soccer, which is what I like.” – Lionel Messi
46. “When the year starts the objective is to win it all with the team, personal records are secondary.“ – Lionel Messi
47. “Whether it’s a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game – I play the same. I’m always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win.” – Lionel Messi
48. “Whether it’s a goal, or winning a game, I’m never satisfied.” – Lionel Messi
49. “You cannot allow your desire to be a winner to be diminished by achieving success before and I believe there is room for improvement in every sportsman.” – Lionel Messi
50. “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” – Lionel Messi